Sports

Local pros expect 'brutal' Boulder Ironman in August

Boulder hosting full triathlon Aug. 3

Swimmers take to Boulder Reservoir during Sunday's Ironman 70.3. Boulder will host a full Ironman on Aug. 3. (Cliff Grassmick / Daily Camera)

Boulder has been the site of a half-Ironman race for 13 years, but the town so many elite athletes use as a training ground will finally graduate to full Ironman in early August when it hosts its first 140.6-mile triathlon.

The men and women who make a living competing as pros on the Ironman circuit expect Boulder's first Ironman to be "brutal." Race organizers confirmed Monday that Boulder's Ironman Aug. 3 will be the largest Ironman in history with more than 3,000 registered to compete. The race sold out in less than a week.

Boulder has become so popular with elite athletes because it's a desirable place to live combined with high altitude and proximity to a major airport on top of everything else the area offers.

The altitude is the first issue racers think of when they imagine what race day will be like Aug. 3 when elite athletes and plenty of Average Joes will try to conquer a 2.4-mile swim at Boulder Reservoir, followed by a 112-mile bike course that will take racers to Loveland and back to Boulder High School before tackling a full marathon that will culminate at the finish line in downtown Boulder at 13th and Pearl.

"It's going to be a very honest, very tough race," said Greg Bennett, a 2004 member of the Australian Olympic team. "I don't think any of us would expect anything less for Boulder. The world's greatest athletes live here and I think whoever fronts up to give it a go, they're going to know they did a race. That's for sure."

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Race director Dave Christen said Monday that Boulder's Ironman Aug. 3 will be the largest Ironman in history with more than 3,000 registered to compete. The race sold out in less than a week.

Great Britain pro Jodie Swallow won the women's pro race at the Boulder 70.3 but doesn't plan to race here in August because it doesn't fall in a comfortable place in her training for the championship season in the fall.

Swallow said she believes the altitude puts a ceiling on how hard athletes can go whether it's the 70.3 or a full Ironman.

"An Ironman is a different ballgame and a hot Ironman is really hard, but when you do an Ironman, it's hard. That's what you're doing it for," Swallow said. "You're doing it for the challenge. I think people must just take it steady, keep within themselves and leave it to the last 20K on the run and they will have a great day out there."

Christen said there are already five or six training groups in town dedicated to preparing racers for the Boulder Ironman. He said having an Ironman in Boulder makes an economic impact on the community for weeks leading up to the race because of all that training.

James Seear, another Australian who earned a seventh-place finish in the Boulder 70.3 but doesn't plan to race the full Ironman in August, said he does plan to be a spectator that day watching many of his fellow pros and friends attack a daunting challenge.

"It's going to be a brutal course," Seear said. "It's very exposed to the sun. The bike is not a super hard course but it will just drag on towards the end. You will just have to be strong and pace yourself well. The run is going to be hard. There is a lot of concrete. So the impact is high, it's exposed to the sun and you will be radiating heat. It's going to be a brutal day. ... It's going to be a hard boy's race for sure."

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